How Safe Is It To Store Your Documents In The Cloud?

It’s been a while since we were forced to choose a clunky, manual option to keep all our personal, financial and work documents safe from accidental deletion or the whims of the natural world. In the old days, we had to spend hours on a regular basis copying all those files onto an external hard disk or burning them onto CD and then we had to find a place to store those pieces of equipment where a thief wouldn’t be able to steal them at the same time as our computers.

Why Choose Online Cloud Storage?

With the advent of online cloud storage, backing up our documents is so much easier and quicker, not to mention more efficient. It’s a vital part of owning a computer to make sure the documents on it are backed up because there are so many things that can go wrong. You might be hit by a fire, you might happen to press the delete button or overwrite a file you really needed and you might be the victim of a sudden and irreversible hard disk failure. As we come to rely more and more on our computers, we store increasingly important documents on them. As well as our work and finances, we store photos and videos of friends and family that couldn’t possibly be replaced if they got lost. Cloud online storage backs this data up safely and prevents it from being destroyed. But how safe is it really?

How Safe Is It To Upload Data To The Cloud?

A good online storage service will encrypt your data as it’s uploaded into the cloud. While it’s certainly true that hackers and online thieves are lurking around every corner and are capable of intercepting your data for their own means, encryption will prevent them from being able to do anything with any documents they get their hands on.

How Safe Is It To Keep Documents In The Cloud?

It’s arguably more safe to keep your data on the cloud than it is to store it on an easily damaged USB stick even without the high levels of encryption that most good online storage services provide. You’ll obviously want to check the service record of the cloud storage service you choose, but most can boast of having kept client services absolutely secure. If you’re worried about the government issuing a subpoena for your data, you can even get around this potential flaw. Simply choose a provider with storage centers in a country that isn’t easy to subpoena.

We asked our experts to evaluate the most popular online cloud storage services and select the ones that will keep your data the most safe and secure while it’s in the cloud: